Laura Marie
by WritingMind
Summary: How could she have known that destruction was so near, practically close enough for her to touch it? How could she have known that her world would be flipped just when she was getting comfortable with it again? She couldn’t have." PLEASE read. Thank you!
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This is the first time I've written in a while, but it's nice to be back. Please R&R. I'll update soon.

"Guys, I'll be back later," Liv said as she grabbed her keys off her desk and grabbed her coat off the back of her chair.

"We'll try not to have too much fun without you," Munch joked bitterly as he went to put a picture of their latest victim on the board. He pushed the thumbtack in hard, shaking his head at the poor girl shown in the image.

"Where ya going?" Elliot asked, turning his gaze on her. His light blue eyes showed all the red flags of confusion. "If it's something with the case you should have someone go with you," he warned.

"What you think I can't handle things on my own?" she asked. He looked surprised by the question and didn't have time to answer before she continued. "Anyway, it's not about the case. I have to pick my sister up from the airport. I'll be back this afternoon. I'm going to take her out to lunch and get her settled."

Elliot still looked confused. "She can't do that herself? This is a really important one, Liv. We've got tons of people on our backs to figure it out as quickly as possible."

"If she weren't fourteen, El, maybe I could stay but nothing's ever perfect," she said.

He finally understood. "Oh," he said in realization. She nodded, glad he finally understood. "Well, see you when you get back." He turned back to the file sitting in front of him and leafed through it.

She proceeded out into the freezing weather of the winter. This case had everyone shaken. She wasn't so sure how great a place New York was for a fourteen-year-old.

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Whatever Laura Marie Benson thought about this move to New York, it wasn't what most teens would think. She wasn't angry with anyone for shipping her off to live with her sister, for being ripped from her friends cause in truth she really didn't have too many of those. And she wasn't extremely excited about the move either. She hadn't really considered how big the city was or how easy it would be to get into trouble with her hardworking sister out all the time working on some case. Most teens would have thought one of the two. All she saw it as was a new start, a change that would probably bring up's and down's but most of all she hoped it would bring her closer to her sister.

The plane was landing. She slammed the window cover shut. She hated landing. Going up and staying up she was fine, but landing was another thing all together. It made her nauseous and just reminded her of crashing. She groaned and put her head between her legs. She felt that jerky feeling as the wheels materialized on the underside of the plane and waited for it to land. She could feel the eyes of the older woman next to her on her back.

There was a jerk and the ride suddenly got very bumpy as they touched down on the ground but soon they were riding along smoothly. She sighed in relief and slowly sat up. Calmly, she opened the window shade and looked out as the moved to an open terminal. She heard the buzzing as people everywhere on the plane turned on their phone and called their loved ones to let them know they were okay. She wondered silently if Olivia would want her to call. She decided to just wait 'til she got to baggage claim. She figured Liv would have enough time to get there by then since they had landed a little early.

She pulled her backpack out from under the seat in front of her. It was light and practically empty. She didn't have much to begin with and she had packed most of that in her suitcase. She had only used it as her carry-on because she had needed a way to get it here. It was light purple and said 'Laura Marie' in white curly-q writing on the front. She liked the way her first name sounded with her middle name and she always signed papers with her full name.

She finally cut out into the isle way between an old man and a young mother who was holding her baby tightly as if afraid someone might take it away. The flight attendant waved good-bye and she smiled at her. Generally fourteen year-olds had to be accompanied to baggage claim with someone who worked for the airport but they had been smart enough to lie and say she was fifteen which was easy enough since she didn't have a passport or a license that would tell the airline otherwise.

She followed the signs to baggage claim and pulled out her phone to give Olivia a call. She answered on the second ring.

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Olivia entered the airport at a slow pace. The traffic was horrible and she couldn't remember why they had chosen a Friday to fly her in. She inched forward. As she proceeded to 'A' the traffic let up a little and she increased her speed to a meager 20 mph. A new record she thought as she rolled her eyes at the traffic. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She didn't like talking on it while driving but when going so slowly she figured it probably wouldn't matter that much. She flipped it open. "Benson," she answered with her usual reply.

"Olivia?" Laura asked, already knowing it was her.

"Oh, I'm almost there. The traffic is ridiculous," Liv answered, not waiting for her to ask the question. "I don't like to use the phone while I'm driving so I'll talk to you when I get there, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. See you in a few!" Laura closed her phone.

Olivia did the same thing. She turned off the radio, annoyed with song that wouldn't end. She pulled into the first parking space in front of baggage claim she saw. The cold air entered her lungs as she pushed the door open against the effort of the wind. She breathed out and could clearly see her breath. She closed her door and locked the car. She wondered what her sister looked like. They hadn't seen each other in years.

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Laura watched as her sister pulled up, got out, locked it, came in through the sliding glass doors, looked around for her, and began to get out her cell phone. She felt the phone buzz in her pocket but couldn't bring herself to answer it. So this was her sister. She hadn't changed much in seven years but all of Laura's memories of her were just slivers, the type where you can remember what's happening but none of the details. She wanted to call out to her. Say, "Here I am! I'm your sister. This is what I've become. You haven't seen me in seven years but here I am, right in front of you." But she couldn't say anything. Words wouldn't grace her lips and her mouth was dry. And then Olivia spotted her. Olivia's face lit up with a smile and she rushed over to her sister.

It was a little awkward since neither of them knew how to greet the other. Olivia pulled her into a hug and the awkwardness ended. Laura finally found her voice, "Hi, Olivia." Laura smiled a little and picked up her suitcase.

"Hi, Laura." Olivia couldn't believe she was with her sister again after all this time. She had grown up so much but she could tell she was very much the same person. They walked out into the cold, got in the car, and pulled away from the airport slower than either had thought possible.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, come on! I'm dying to meet your friends," Laura pleaded.

Olivia just shook her head. "They're just the people I work with, and we have something really important we're working on right now so everyone needs to stay focused. I just can't have you around work with me right now."

Laura looked disappointed and whispered a, "Fine," before making a comfortable place for herself on the couch and turning on the TV.

Liv smiled, relieved the argument was over. "There's money on the counter for pizza if you get hungry. We have basically nothing so get whatever you want. I'll be home later."

"When is later, exactly?" she asked. She wasn't being rude, just very curious.

She paused. How did she answer that? "Um… I don't know really. I'll call you if it's not too late. Bed by 11:30, please."

Laura nodded. "No problem," she said.

They had taken the afternoon to get settled and have lunch. Olivia had helped her unpack her small amount of stuff and then they had just hung out for a while. But now it was nearing four and Olivia knew Cragen, El, and everyone else wouldn't be happy if she didn't get back there. "Bye, lock the door behind me," she called as she left. Laura channel surfed before finally landing on M-TV. She pulled a blanket over her and prepared herself for a night of doing nothing.

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Liv got back to the precinct around four-thirty. It was surprisingly sparse on people. She looked around for Elliot, Munch, Fin, anyone but she couldn't find them so she assumed they were either in interrogation or out busting some asses. She pulled her coat off and hung it on the back of the chair. Her shoes click-clacked as she made her way over to Cragen's office. He was rifling through some paper work and didn't look up as she appeared in the doorway.

"I'm back. Where is everyone?" she inquired. She wasn't really sure what was going on. She'd never seen the place so empty, except for maybe those few times when she'd stayed 'til one or three in the morning.

"They arrested our guy and Elliot got a full confession. There was another call for you two but you weren't around so I sent Fin and Munch. Elliot should be around here somewhere," he said without looking up. She nodded and left without another word. It was only 4:45. She knew that when Fin and Munch got back there would be something for them to do but she didn't know what to do until then so she figured the first step was to find Elliot.

She checked just about everywhere before finally finding him taking a nap on one of the bunks He was sound asleep, his face calm. It didn't show any of the stress or frustration lines that accompanied this line of work. She didn't want to wake him but she wasn't sure what else to do. She nudged his shoulder.

He stirred slightly and his eyes opened like slits. He smiled slightly but didn't do much else. After a second he scooted over a little. "Have a seat," he said, his voice raspy from just waking up.

"Sorry to wake you." She took a seat near his feet.

He shook his head. "I don't mind. How's your sister? What did you say her name was?" His eyes were closed again but she could tell he was listening intently.

"Her name's Laura. She seemed happy to see me. I don't think she really minded moving out here. We look a little similar, I guess. I need to find a school for her to be enrolled in, but I just haven't gotten around to it. But I can't keep her cooped up in that apartment all day. Especially not when I'm here all the time." She could tell she was practically spilling her guts but she didn't mind. Elliot was just sort of easy to talk to. He was like a brother to her and much better than her biological brother.

"I can help with the school thing. Kathy can probably get her into whatever school the kids go to. I bet she's a lot like you. Your sister, I mean," he said. His voice had lost its raspy-ness and gone back to normal.

"I don't know. She seems really smart, but just like any teenager. Young and naïve, ya know?"

He nodded. "You know you don't have to keep her cooped up all the time. Why don't you bring her in tomorrow? I don't think Cragen would mind. I'll talk to him about it, but you might have noticed that there isn't a lot going on. Fin and Munch's case won't take long. Just the typical abuse by father," he said. He didn't like using the word typical to describe someone's pain but he was still to asleep to find a better word.

"Maybe I will. She asked about meeting you guys. She wanted to come in today but I said no because I thought we'd still be working on that last one. Congrats on the confession, by the way," she said grinning.

He smiled. "Thanks," he whispered.

"I'm gonna go grab a snack. You want anything?" she asked.

"No, thanks. I'm good," he answered.

"Okay. You sleep. I'll come get you if we need you. You deserve a nap," she said, remembering he'd been here 'til past midnight almost every night this week.

He nodded slightly before drifting off back to sleep. She left the room feeling a little better about all the problems she saw with bringing a fourteen-year-old to New York.

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Olivia got home around ten. There hadn't been much going on at work but she had finished up a ton of paperwork she'd been putting off. The traffic hadn't been too bad on the way home. She walked in to find Laura curled up on the couch, fast asleep. She smiled. It was the second time that day that she had walked in on someone she cared about sleeping. She flicked off the TV but decided to let her sleep there. She left the hall light on so Laura could find her way to her room if she woke up during the night but she didn't expect that to happen. Laura had had a long day. She changed into a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants and crawled into bed. She didn't even turn on the TV. She fell asleep in moments. She hadn't even thought about the fact that tomorrow her co-workers would have to be pestered by her little sister.

Author's Note: I know this chapter was a little blah and uneventful but it was important to get to the next chapter. The next chapter will hopefully be up tomorrow night.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Hang in their guys. All the intense stuff starts after this chapter. But don't skip this one. It's important too :) Thanks for the reviews so far guys, they mean a ton. Enjoy!_

When the girl walked into the room Elliot Stabler knew exactly who she was. The hair, those eyes, and hell, even her ears, were so familiar he thought maybe he had traveled back in time. But then he remembered his discussion with Olivia from the previous day.

So this was Laura Benson. She looked spot on like her sister. He examined her from across the room but said nothing, attempting to be discreet. She was young. She looked exactly like what he thought Liv would have looked like in high school: medium height, brown hair about shoulder length, chocolate brown eyes that were wide and curious. He hadn't even noticed Liv walk up beside him.

She leaned against the desk behind her. She followed the path of his eyes and noticed where they rested. A small smile played across her lips. He glanced over at her. "Hey," she greeted.

"She looks just like you," he said with a laugh. He hadn't been expecting such resemblance.

"Really?" She looked over at her sister but couldn't find too many similarities.

"Yeah. Anyway, I talked to Cragen. He said it was fine if she hung out here for the day. But just for today. Crime's pretty slow at the moment. We're just waiting to hear back for some people about that thing Munch and Fin were working on. But they say it's practically a closed case."

"That was fast," she mused. She couldn't imagine what had made it so easy.

"Yeah," he agreed. His eyes were still on Laura who was looking around the room with an interest that could not be stifled. Her eyes moved around, taking everything in but never once resting on her sister and Elliot. She seemed excited to be there but had that look in her eye like when she couldn't quite figure things out. She was attempting to recognize people from Liv's descriptions this morning before they came.

_They're staring at me again,_ she thought to herself. She refused to meet either of their eyes, preferring to take in everything that was going on in the room. Most people were just sitting staring at file folders and leafing through page after page, looking for anything they could have missed. A few, like her sister and the man she assumed was Elliot based off her list of people she would meet, were standing and talking. A few people were watching her. She could feel their eyes. Others still were gathered around a cork board trying to piece information together. So this was what her sister did for a living. It didn't look all that exciting to her.

She figured she wouldn't really get to see any action though. They probably didn't let people who weren't cops see anything at all really. She noted where Olivia had put down her keys and walked over to the desk. She had a seat and glanced around at the things on the desk. There was a lamp, a few stacked files, a pen cup, but nothing unusual that said this desk belonged to her sister. She felt the extreme urge to go through the drawers, find something that linked this place to Olivia, but she suppressed it and instead took to spinning in slow circles in the chair.

"You can go say hello to her, ya know?" Olivia said. "You are the reason she's here after all."

"I'm the reason she moved out to New York?" he asked, mock serious.

"You know what I mean," she said rolling her eyes.

"I wouldn't know what to say." He turned around to his desk and shuffled some papers absently, trying to look busy but not being very convincing.

"Introduce yourself. Make sure you didn't freak her out. It's pretty easy to feel when someone's staring at you. She just might want to know why."

He shrugged, put down the papers and walked over to the table. He pulled over a chair from a nearby desk and had a seat. Laura slowly stopped spinning and watched him intently instead. She could tell he didn't know what to say. "I'm Laura," she began with a wide grin, hoping to break the ice even a little bit. "You work with my sister, huh? You're lucky. I hope you know that." She wasn't kidding about the second part but she said it so lightly he couldn't really take it seriously.

"Trust me, I know I am," he said with a laugh. "I'm Elliot Stabler." He didn't stick out a hand for her to shake or seem to expect anything at all from her really which was a nice feeling. She had never been allowed to just _be._

"Olivia told me about you, Mr. Stabler," she said though 'Mr. Stabler' sounded all wrong to her on her tongue.

"Elliot," he said, not liking being called Mr. Stabler. It made him sound old. "Really? You don't happen to remember anything specific, do you?" he asked jokingly.

She shrugged. "Depends what you can offer me in return."

"I've got some great stories about, Liv," he said in an offering tone. Laura seemed to be weighing the benefits of keeping her secrets or sharing them. But she like Elliot and was desperate to be able to talk to someone who wasn't family, so she decided it was best to accept his offer.

"Sounds good to me!" she said cheerfully. "Though from what she's said you probably could have just interrogated the information right out of me without needing to give me any info on Olivia."

"It's more fun to give stories to someone who can use them properly though," he joked. She shrugged. She didn't really plan on using any of the stories. She just wanted, needed to hear what had happened to her sister in the past seven years. She assumed Elliot was one of the reasons in her prolonged stay in New York. She noticed a lot of things about him. He had a wedding band on. The stress lines on his face indicated he had been doing this job probably as long as Olivia. There were several frames on the desk she had seen him at which indicated he probably had children and with luck some might be around her age. But mostly she noticed how nice he was and how easy to talk to he was. No wonder Liv had described him as one of her closest friends and the best partner she could have wished for. But she assumed Liv wouldn't want him to know she had said that.

Olivia watched them from across the room. She noticed the ways both of their faces were lit up from the fun conversation they were having. She wondered what it could be about but didn't even have the notion it could be about her. She walked over to the two, not trying to interrupt, just wanting in on the fun, and pulled up a chair next to Elliot.

"What are you two up to?" she asked, noting the devious look in El's eyes.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Laura said brightly.

Elliot smiled happily. He hadn't had such a light hearted discussion in that building in years. It had seemed like a foreign language at first, well before Laura had started the conversation anyway. She reminded him of his kids, before they had become teenagers anyway. But he could tell she was one of the good ones, one who was probably practically incorruptible. She was sweet and guessed that Liv had probably been much the same way cause the girl had to have gotten it somewhere.

"What's going on here?" Cragen asked as he stood behind Laura who spun around in her chair, eyes wide. She hadn't been expecting anyone to come in on their conversation. The authoritative tone in the man's voice made her nervous.

"Sir, this is Liv's sister. I talked to you about her this morning. You said it was fine," El tried to explain though he didn't seem nearly as nervous as Laura.

"I didn't give you two the right to slack off though, now did I?" he asked, not really seeming to care all that much. The small workload they were facing had made him less of a martinet.

"Sorry, sir, we were just trying to persuade Laura to get out of my chair. She's so stubborn," Olivia joked, winking at her.

"Just make sure you get something done today instead of playing with the new toy all day," he said before he walked away.

Laura thought about saying something about the toy comment but decided against it. She knew she was good at arguing her point but he didn't seem to have meant any harm. When she thought about it she probably was like the shiny new toy. They would rather talk to her than do their work just like little kids would rather play with their toy than do their chores.

Elliot and Olivia had launched back into a conversation of their own so Laura let her thoughts wander. She could tell by the way they talked they were more than just partners, they were like siblings. Sometimes Elliot took the role of the eldest and sometimes Liv had to, the roles were interchangeable as their relationship called for it. She wasn't surprised Olivia had stayed out here. She would have.

"Laura?" Liv said her name for the third time and Laura finally took notice.

"Sorry, I guess I was lost in thought," she glanced over at them.

"We need to get some work done today but how bout we, all three of us, go grab some ice cream later?"

"Sounds good," she replied brightly. "I brought I book. I guess I'll just read. Let me know when you're ready."

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Laura had read the day away by the time they were ready for ice cream. They had taken a short break for lunch where they had had sandwiches. It was practically four in the afternoon now. They had eaten around twelve so Laura knew she was about due for an afternoon snack.

"Ready?" Elliot had asked as he pulled on his coat. She noticed Olivia was doing the same thing, but only Elliot grabbed his keys. So they would be back. She too pulled on her coat and stood up. Her legs were stiff.

"More than ready," she replied brightly. They walked out and left the precinct in Elliot's car. They drove to central park. Elliot drove around 'til they found a suitable parking place and they got out. There was a small vendor inside the park selling hot chocolate, hot pretzels, and, despite the cold weather, ice cream. Elliot seemed to know the guy, either from years of visiting the man with his family and buying food or knowing him personally.

"And what would you like, little Miss?" the vendor asked. Laura paused. She wasn't really sure. She didn't really feel like getting anything extravagant. She decided to stick to the basics.

"Chocolate, please," she answered with a grin. Despite the cold biting at her nose and the feeling of her cheeks reddening from the frost, she was extremely happy and couldn't stop smiling. She had trouble reminding herself that she had only been there for a day. She felt like she had seen her sister every day for the past seven years she had been away and she felt like Elliot had been a friend to her for years.

After they had each gotten their order they walked through the park for a while eating away at their snack until there was nothing left, not even the cone. "That was delicious," Laura said cheerfully. She felt like nothing could get her down. How could she have known that destruction was so near, practically close enough for her to touch it? How could she have known that her world would be flipped just when she was getting comfortable with it again? She couldn't have.

But for the moment she was happy, and that was all she cared about.

When they got back to the precinct she went back to reading and Olivia and Elliot filled out more paperwork, it seemed like the paperwork came from an everlasting stack that grew by two files every time you took one off. Olivia and Laura each said good night to Elliot and Laura said she hoped to see him again soon. Olivia smiled as Laura walked away. "I told you it wasn't that hard," Olivia said.

"She might think I'm weird," he said.

"She thinks you're great, she told me," Olivia replied, trying to ease his worries. "I think she's happy to have found a friend here in New York," she mused.

"She didn't need a friend. She has you. She really adores you, Liv," he said thoughtfully. Olivia smiled gratefully. She was just as unsure about what Laura could be thinking as Elliot was. She just hoped what he said was true and could find no reason he would lie.

"Guess I'll see you in the morning," she whispered as she noticed Laura was staring at her, waiting for her from across the room. She left him standing there.

"See you tomorrow," he replied as she walked out the door with Laura.

When the got home, Laura almost fell into her bed, completely succumbing to sleep. Down the hallway, Olivia did the same thing.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Hey guys. I really love writing this story. I'm not going to stop writing it or anything cause I love it, but a review here and there would be nice. Thanks so much for reading guys!_

THREE WEEKS LATER

Laura walked to the Stabler's house after school with Elizabeth and Dickie every day. He said he preferred being called Dick but she called him Dickie anyway because that's what Olivia had called him when she mentioned him. Not to mention he turned a little red with embarrassment every time she said it. The three had become friends almost as quickly as she and Elliot had.

After school, she would go to their house, work on homework, hang out with the rest of the Stabler family, have dinner with them, and wait to be picked up by Olivia which was around the same time Elliot got home, sometimes a little later, so she still got to see him. If Olivia and Elliot needed to pull an all-nighter she stayed in the guest bedroom which Kathy had quickly deemed, not as a guest room, but as Laura's room, open to her any time she needed a place to stay. She had found a home in New York.

The school work was easy, she had been through most of it all ready, and Lizzie and Dick were smart so they usually had a lot of free time. She liked throwing a baseball with Dick or leafing through magazines with Lizzie. She was just happy to feel like she belonged somewhere.

It was a Tuesday. Laura was sitting in Elizabeth's room with her looking in the new edition of "Us" magazine. "What did Dickie have after school today?" Laura asked. He had only mentioned that he had something but not what it was.

"Um… baseball conditioning, or tryouts, or something like that," Liz responded.

Laura looked up. "It's freezing out!"

Elizabeth on the other hand didn't look up. She was absorbed by some article about Tom Cruise. "It doesn't seem to bother him or his friends," she answered, shrugging.

Laura went back to reading her article. "He likes it when you call him that, you know." It was Lizzie speaking.

"What?" Laura sounded thoroughly confused.

"Dickie," she replied. "He hates it when anyone else calls him that but I think he's kind of gotten used to it. He would probably be insulted if you didn't call him that." She looked up at Laura and smiled. Laura didn't look up, didn't even respond. She didn't really know what to say. So she just ignored what Lizzie had said and kept reading.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and went back to her article.

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Elliot leaned against Olivia's desk and picked through some Chinese food. Liv did the same think but was sitting down, not really focused on anything at all.

The woman was medium height. Her hair was short and brown but seemed to have some odd tint to it when she walked into certain lighting. Her eyes were blue-green and had a crazy look about them. She was chewing on her nails and her skin was practically white. She looked like she might explode, go crazy, at any moment. Her face was red and puffy. She looked like she had been crying for a long time. "Somebody, please! Someone, help me!" she screamed, her jaw clenched as she ran into the precinct. She looked like she was trying to hold in the tears and the pain.

Olivia and Elliot were immediately on their way over to the girl and Cragen was already out of his office by the time they got to her. "Ma'am, please tell us what happened," he was saying. She was shaking her head, the tears flowing freely now. Her entire body was shaking. "Miss, you have to tell us what happened or we can't do anything," he said again. She sobbed and pulled her arms around herself tightly as if she were holding herself together.

"I was raped," she choked out before falling to the floor and cradling herself back in forth.

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"Hey, Laura, Elliot called. He says it's going to be a long night so you can just stay here tonight," Kathy told her as they all sat down for dinner. It smelled delicious. She was sitting between Lizzie and Dickie, who had indeed been at baseball. Kathy was opposite her with Eli next to her. God, that little boy was adorable, Laura thought. He had the cutest smile and looked just like his daddy. He was staring at her again. He did that a lot. She smiled at him and he returned the favor and giggled.

"Okay," Laura said. She didn't mind staying. "Is everything at work alright?" she asked, somewhat worried.

"Yeah, they're fine. They just got a new case. Say it'll probably take a while," Kathy responded, giving her a warm smile before turning back to Eli and trying yet again to feed him, unsuccessfully, of course.

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"Now if you ever need anything or you think of something you forgot to mention, just call me. Anytime and I'll come right over," Olivia said, handing the girl, Linda Miten, her card. Elliot gave the girl a warm smile, rubbed her arm and spoke:

"We'll be in touch. Just try to go home and get some sleep."

She nodded and left. She was doing better than she had been earlier.

"We're going to have to get up soon for work. I'm just going to take a nap on one of the bunks," Olivia said, yawning and stretching.

Elliot rubbed his hand down his face and rested it on his neck which he lightly massaged. "I think I might do the same. No point in driving home this late, plus if Laura finds out I came home and you didn't she might get worried," he said with a smile just thinking about the mini-Benson. She was so much like her sister it scared him sometimes. Maybe she would grow up to work with some wise-ass who was terrible at relationships too. He hoped she wouldn't though.

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School the next day was a drag. She plowed through the day. She didn't have any classes with Lizzie and only had one with Dick. She hadn't really socialized much with the other kids. She stuck with what she knew. And what she knew was that she fit in with the Stabler twins. Every class was boring up until English. She walked in a few minutes late and couldn't get a good seat near Dickie which highly disappointed her. Her sadness was quickly wiped away when the girl next to her poked her in the arm with a pencil and handed her a note. Luckily the English teacher was completely oblivious or they would have been spotted right off the bat.

She opened up the note. It was quickly scribbled on a scrap piece of loose leaf. _"Hey, Laur. Sorry, I tried to save you a seat but no luck. At least it's English. How's your day?" _It was probably the exact same conversation they would be having if she had gotten a seat near him. Her face lit up as she scribbled her response.

"_Hey, Dickie. Don't worry about the seating. I should have been on time. My day has sucked so far. It's going SO slowly! But at least it's almost over. What are you up to this afternoon? More baseball? You do realize it's freezing out, right?"_ She handed it to the girl between them. She tried to recall her name. Mandy? Mindy? It was something like that. Mindy-Mandy-what's-her-name passed it to Dickie. He grinned.

"_Yeah, we know it's cold. We just ignore it and we have a ton of fun. Plus it's good practice. You going to hang at home with Liz 'til Olivia comes to get you?"_

"_That was my plan. How often are you going to be practicing baseball? You do where a coat right? Because if not, I'm making you get one."_

He didn't doubt that she would make him put on a coat. _"Don't worry, Mom, I always wear a jacket. Probably Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 'til the season starts. Why?"_

"_Just curious…"_ And then they got caught and stopped talking. He figured he would see her when he got home anyway. At the end of class he winked at her and raced out the door, off to find his friends so they could practice.

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Liv had swung by somewhat early to pick Laura up. They went back to the apartment and sat and ate dinner together. "How'd you get away so early?" Laura asked, amazed.

"That's what happens when you work 'til four a.m. the night before," Liv said, smiling. "So you want to watch TV. Let's see, it's Wednesday. Any idea what's on?"

Laura shook her head, just happy to be spending a night at home with her sister.

There were re-runs of some mindless show. They were into their third episode when Olivia's phone vibrated on the kitchen table.

"Benson." "What?" "Calm down, Linda." "What happened?" "Where are you?" "Okay, don't worry. I'm coming." She shut the phone.

"Laura, I'm sorry…" Liv started but was cut off by Laura.

"Don't worry about it, sis. I understand. I'll just hang out here for the night. I did my homework and I have a TV so I'm happy," she said, smiling convincingly.

"If you say so. I'll hopefully be home before eleven. Lock the door behind me!" And then she was gone. Laura got comfy on the couch. It reminded her of that first night in the apartment. She channel surfed for a while and just relaxed.

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"Liv, I'm sorry, there's no one here and there's no sign that anyone ever was. It looks like she sent us on a wild goose chase," El said.

"That doesn't make any sense. Maybe she got the address wrong or maybe he kidnapped her," Liv said, trying to find some reason to account for the odd call from Linda. She knew she hadn't imagined it because Laura had been right there. "I just don't get it, El."

"I know; it doesn't make sense, but there's no sign that anything happened here so I guess we can just get going home. If she calls again call me first." Liv nodded, agreeing she would.

"You know, Dickie was disappointed Laura went home so early," Elliot said with a smile.

"Laura said he was practicing baseball with his friends on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursday," she said, quoting Laura's exact words.

"She's known him for three weeks and she can get that out of him. I've known him his entire life and all he tells me is that his day is fine. Well, I guess he tells me a few other things," Elliot mentioned suggestively.

Liv knew this was the part where she was supposed to ask what he meant. "Okay, I give. What do you know?"

"I think he has a crush on her but he keeps saying that he thinks of her like his sister," he said, smiling. He laughed. "I don't believe him."

Liv smiled. Maybe the move to New York could be a good think for Laura.

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Liv got home around ten-thirty. Laura wasn't on the couch and the TV was turned off. She went to her own room and slipped into her pajamas before going to Laura's room to check on her. That was odd. She looked around for a few more minutes before realization sunk in. Where was her phone damn it? The kitchen. She ran to it and hit the number one on her speed dial.

"El, she's gone! Somebody took her. Laura's gone," she choked out the words as the tears began to come. She collapsed on the floor as the sobs racked her body.

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Elliot was off the couch in seconds. He pulled on a coat and boots. He looked angry and on the verge of tears. He stormed toward his bedroom and grabbed his keys. Liz and Dickie looked up from the couch. "Dad, what's going on?" Dick was asking. "Did something happen to Olivia?" Elliot shook his head. He had barely heard his son. He couldn't spit the words out. Dickie and Lizzie would figure it out tomorrow at school anyway and he just couldn't inflict such painful news on his children. But whatever it took. They would get Laura back.

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Laura had struggled the entire way but her attacker had pushed on some pressure point and she had been temporarily paralyzed despite the fact that she was very much awake. The attacker punched her and kicked her 'til she was on the verge of passing out. Then he carried her body down stairs and threw it in the trunk of the car waiting outside. They pulled away and that was how Laura Marie Benson was kidnapped.


End file.
